Having been inspired by my lil' sis, I thought I'd update a bit too.  I have, as she assumed, been totally consumed by Facebook....not sure why really, just have.  All in all, things are, in a word, stressful.  School has just about emptied the tank this summer.  I'm on my last week, and while it's a busy one, I am more than willing to put my nose to the grind and get it done.  I have, however, not been to practice much this summer.  School plus the heat plus other stresses have just taken my mind off of it, but am looking forward to getting back into it after this week. 

Went to visit the family over my bday weekend, saw my ADORABLE nephew (pics on my Facebook page, if interested), so that was fun and relaxing.  Although, getting out of an airplane is apparently the single-most difficult thing we as humans do.  That long aisle with no one in front of you means to stand there with you bag in your hand and let all of us behind you stand there with our bags in our hands wishing you'd move the EFF out of the way....but I digress.  The trip was fun, again, nephew is awesome.  Mom is doing a little better, but not better enough to say she's doing well.  I'll take better, though.

Hmm...what else...oh....hmmm...well....I think I've exhausted my ability to think for the morning...need more coffee.

xposted to my LJ

Inspired by a fellow cadet...

This past weekend was Queen's Champion, and it was hot!  Very hot!  But all in all it was a good day.  HRM look absolutely amazing in her dress, despite my not noticing the sleeves (winks at HRM), and I'm glad she had such a large turn out.  83 in the list.  Wow!  I am honored to have been one of them.

Queen's is one of those tournaments that I always want to do well in, and always feel nervous before it starts.  Once it starts, my nerves die down a little, but am still pretty high on adrenaline.  I've had average results in past Queen's, mostly going 2 wins/2 losses, and this year was no exception.  I had 3 wins and 2 losses, but I feel good about the way I fought.  First fight was Baroness Alice (sp?), I have fought her before, and we sparred a little and I was able to go up the middle and kill her.  Second fight was a guy called Davius (I think that was his name, and I don't know how to spell it).  He is from out of Kingdom, had a strange style, and he's a lefty.  I fought him with caution.  Not knowing what someone will do is a catalyst to get me killed.  I stayed back, fought my fought, and took advantage of an opening when I saw it.  Third round, Don Brian.  Don Brian is someone for whom I have a great deal of respect and admiration.  I've always looked up to him, and enjoy fighting him.  He gave me the option to fight either single or buckler.  I'm not great a buckler, and knowing he is, I went with single.  Although Don Brian wasn't all together mobile, I know he's dangerous with a blade in his hand, so I again approached with caution.  I was able to get a shot through, but it just barely touched him.  After a few more passes, I was able to get another shot in with just enough pressure.  Then, the next two rounds were something else...lemme tell you...first, Don Brenden, who made pay for a mistake.  I inched forward, I felt like I moved forward a centimeter and then WHAM, shot to the head.  Ah well, I made the mistake, and I don't feel too bad...he's done that to a lot of people.  Then, I fought Don Ingve, we had a good fight.  I felt like I made him work for it.  Had at least one pass where he voided my shot by a very small distance, had another pass where he was able to parry just in time, and he finally was able to disengage and hit me in the stomach, thus ending my Queen's Champion.  All in all, I felt good about my fighting.

Then the finals, OMG, the finals.  Talk about intense.  It was a lot of fun, and congrats to Don Pieter, what a fight, man.  Court was good, HOT, but good, Hafla and tavern was fun.  I was feeling pretty pooped around midnight so I headed home.  Despite the heat, it was a great day, and I hope HRM had a good day as well. 

What a day, the Roses looked resplendent as usual, the air was crisp and chilly, an overcast, damp day, perfect for fighting.  All in all, the tournament was fun.  I fought like poo, but I had a blast doing it.  In my first fight of the day, I smacked someone on the chin with a very hard, percussive shot.  I was intending to turn my sword around after a parry, and land a point to his gorget, as I had set up, and misjudged our measure and *smack*, right on his chin.  While I did that, he had stabbed me in the hip, so I asked him if he wanted me to take the loss, apologized, and told him what I had intended to do, and just misjudged.  He was gracious, asked for a refight, but my head was off after that.  The day just went down hill in terms of fighting, but again, I had a lot of fun, and enjoyed myself a lot.  My fight with the Slacker's cadet was a blast...now that loss was okay, she had to work for it, that made me happy.  :)  The finals few fights were all great to watch, and congrats to the dbw000 for taking the tournament.

Our field was right in from of the thrones, and if you've got to die, at least you can do it for the entertainment of their HRMs and HRHs, right? 

Good to see everyone, hadn't seen Dons Modius or Brian in ages, and it was great to see them.

I wish I would've fought better, but eh, ya know, you win some, you lose some.  Now it's back to the practice field and moving on from a bad tournament showing.  I guess I had a sophomore slump after doing so well at Elfsea. 

This event is really less to do with how well I do, I just like being there, fighting for the Roses, and getting to see my friends, it's especially cool when your friends have really good days!!!

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